Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular Music

APOLLO THEATRE

NYC mecca for black artists '34--80. Former Hurtig and Seamon's burlesque theatre closed as authorities cracked down on risqu‚ shows; owner Sidney Cohen closed another smaller theatre and took its name for the 125th Street Apollo, opened 26 Jan. '34, with Wednesday as amateur night. As battle shaped up between Cohen and Frank Schiffman (formerly operated the Lafayette, then the Harlem Opera House), Cohen died; Schiffman took over the larger venue, better location '35, turned Opera House over to films and made the Apollo the premier location for black entertainment, called Mother Church or 'uptown Palace' (downtown Palace was top venue for white vaudeville). Variety shows incl. comics, dancers, bands, singers; the chorus line was one of the best in the business until phased out early '40s on grounds of cost. White comics Milton Berle, Joey Adams etc came to steal jokes; white acts successful at Apollo incl. the Charlie Barnet band; but every black act wanted to try for unique success with the Harlem audience. The largest black community in the world had no political power, but escaped from racism and welfare queues to see its own great talent at the Apollo, giving short shrift to acts that didn't make it but bestowing instant fame on others: amateur night winners going on to stardom incl. Lena Horne, Pearl Bailey, Sarah Vaughan, Ruth Brown, Sam Cooke, King Curtis, Marvin Gaye, many more. The second balcony was called the buzzard's roost: an act which died onstage got its bones metaphorically picked, but fans in ecstasy made the floor move, allegedly inspiring the Savoy Sultans' 'Second Balcony Jump'. But when Billie Holiday sang 'Strange Fruit', Schiffman said, 'A moment of oppressively heavy silence followed, and then a kind of rustling sound I had never heard before. It was the sound of almost two thousand people sighing.' Emcee Ralph Cooper (d 4 Aug. '92 in his late eighties) had deserted Schiffman for Cohen in the beginning, but stayed on to become a Harlem celebrity: vocalist, dancer and bandleader, he helped Holiday and many others early in their careers (subsequently, unable to make it in Hollywood as an actor, he returned to NYC writing, producing and/or acting in nine of the best black films when 'B' movies were made for minority audiences, e.g. Dark Manhattan '37, Gang War '40). The seminal vocal group the Orioles late '40s were a smash harbinger of things to come; during the '50s variety lost out: there were gospel nights, African ballet, off- Broadway plays, but mainly R&B/soul acts with hit records dominated the Apollo in its last two decades (Elvis Presley paid a visit months before his own stardom). Schiffman's son Bobby kept the unique relationship with black stars, but success of blacks in charts and on TV caused the Apollo to lose importance: the last show was George Clinton's Parliament/Funkadelic in March '83. Officially designated a New York City landmark, it reopened as a theatre/cable TV centre for 50th anniversary. See Showtime At The Apollo '85 by Ted Fox.